Publications

14 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Reforming New Orleans Schools After Katrina

do not receive capital allocations for building or leasing facilities, which represent significant start-up and recurring costs. They must either reduce what they spend on teaching and learning or secure private funding to make the rent. Most charter schools are View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Education

16 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Your Customers Have Changed. Here's How to Engage Them Again.

longer term. Whether industries are experiencing decreases or increases in demand, all firms and organizations need to take a step back or forward and ask themselves: What should be my minimally viable strategy to get through these... View Details

Keywords: by Rohit Deshpandé, Ofer Mintz, and Imran S. Currim; Retail; Service

September 2021
Case

Posse Foundation: Developing Strong Leaders from Diverse Backgrounds

By: John J-H Kim, Robin Mendelson and Julia Kelley

Founded in 1989, Posse Foundation was a nonprofit organization with a mission of developing future leaders who reflected the U.S.’s rich diversity. The organization ran a selective, localized admissions process in 10 U.S. cities to identify outstanding students with... View Details

March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

On March 1, 2017, Best Buy Company, Inc., North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, announced a third year of comparable-store sales increases and a 20.8% increase in domestic comparable online sales. These results were in marked contrast... View Details

Keywords: Best Buy; Hubert Joly; Renew Blue; Showrooming; Webrooming; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Marketplaces; Turnaround; Consumer Electronics; Consumer Electronics Accessories; Appliances; Stores-within-stores; Store Experience; Store Size; Store Pickup; Store Management; Delivery; Delivery Models; Amazon; Amazon.com; Pricing Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Theater Entertainment; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Cost; Selection and Staffing; Reports; Technological Innovation; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Human Capital; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Media; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Distribution Channels; Infrastructure; Product; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Programs; Groups and Teams; Sales; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Resource Allocation; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry; United States; Minnesota; Minneapolis; Saint Paul; St. Paul

October 2009
Article

Influence and Inefficiency in the Internal Capital Market

By: Julie Wulf

I model inefficient resource allocations in M-form organizations due to influence activities by division managers that skew capital budgets in their favor. Corporate headquarters receives two types of signals about investment opportunities: private signals that can be... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Resource Allocation; Business Processes; Capital Budgeting; Business Headquarters; Investment; Opportunities; Cost; Value; Motivation and Incentives; Equity

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Teaching Interest

Launching Technology Ventures

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

This course takes the perspective of founders struggling to achieve product market fit in their early-stage startups. Our cases focus on founder decision during this search and discovery phase, both in the experiments that they design and run as well as the... View Details

Research Summary

3. Emergence and Early Growth of a New Venture in an Unfriendly Environment: The Role of a Business Group

Abstract: How can an established organization ease the emergence and early growth of a new venture in an unfriendly environment? To answer this question, I describe and analyze the foundation and early life of two biotechnology start-ups at the... View Details

Winter 2022
Article

Distributing a Billion Vaccines: COVAX Successes, Challenges, and Opportunities

By: Eric Budish, Hannah Kettler, Scott Duke Kominers, Erik Osland, Canice Prendergast and Andrew A. Torkelson

By January 2022, the COVAX international vaccine collaboration had allocated over a billion vaccines to over 140 countries. We describe and review the allocation process chosen, which reflected both an objective of equitably distributing vaccines across the world and... View Details

Keywords: Vaccines; Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Distribution; Supply Chain; Equality and Inequality

April 29, 2020
Article

The Case for AI Insurance

By: Ram Shankar Siva Kumar and Frank Nagle

When organizations place machine learning systems at the center of their businesses, they introduce the risk of failures that could lead to a data breach, brand damage, property damage, business interruption, and in some cases, bodily harm. Even when companies are... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Internet and the Web; Safety; Insurance; AI and Machine Learning; Cybersecurity

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January 2014 (Revised March 2014)
Case

SAP 2014: Reaching for the Cloud

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Marco Iansiti and Noah Fisher

In May 2014, Bill McDermott will become the sole CEO of SAP AG, the world leader in the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) field. The case occurs in January 2014 at SAP's investors meeting, at a time when the company's stock is near record high. A 2010 strategy... View Details

Keywords: Cloud Computing; Platform; Strategy And Execution; Strategy And Leadership; Enterprise Resource Planning; Software; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Applications and Software; Information Technology Industry; Germany

March 2005 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Teach For America 2005

On November 17, 2004, as Teach for America's (TFA) national board meeting adjourned, Chief Operating Officer Jerry Hauser considered the opportunity before the organization. The board had just given the go ahead to move forward with development of a new strategic plan... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Education; Education Industry; United States

November 2004 (Revised June 2005)
Background Note

Designing Products and Processes: Aligning Hierarchical Problem Levels with Problem-Solving Team Forms

All complex systems have four distinct hierarchical design levels: system objectives, architecture, interfaces, and components. Each level has a distinct design question associated with it. Distinguishing among these levels and understanding the questions associated... View Details

Keywords: Design; Complexity

May 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Background Note

Social Enterprise in Latin America

By: Brian L. Trelstad and Karina Souza

This research note provides an overview of the social enterprise ecosystem in Latin America, exploring current dynamics across key markets, including country-specific insights on Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Central America. In a region characterized... View Details

Research Summary

Mastering Strategy Execution

By: Robert Simons

Professor Robert Simons’ research encompasses three areas of management accountability that are the foundation for successful strategy execution: organization design, performance measurement and control, and risk management. In addition, Simons is interested in the... View Details

October 1991 (Revised September 1998)
Case

Maxwell Appliance Controls

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A profitable manufacturing division of a large company is looking for new ways to identify sources of productivity improvements. Led by its senior finance officer, an activity-based cost system is developed to identify activities performed for its highly varied product... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Management Teams; Quality; Performance Improvement; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Production; Manufacturing Industry

Web

Business for Social Impact | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

markets to create both economic and social value. Publications How Firms Respond to Worker Activism: Evidence from Global Supply Chains By: Yanhua Bird, Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel 2025 | Faculty Research Social movement pressures can lead View Details

March 2015 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Philips Healthcare Latin America

By: Sunil Gupta

On a beautiful sunny afternoon in October 2013, Daniel Mazon (GMP 15), decided to take some time out of his busy schedule of the General Management Program (GMP) at the Harvard Business School to reflect on his company's situation. Mazon was the Vice President and... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Latin America; Organizational Structure; Salesforce Management; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry; Latin America